TWF Paladin Build?

[Magpied]

I'm playing a custom race that has +2 str, +2 con, and -2 int, free falcataproficiency, free power attack.

I was thinking of taking these feats

Level 1: TWF
Level 3: Imp Shield Bash
Level 5: Double slice

Thoughts?

[Imbicatus]

What are your final stats? Are you rolling or point buy? You will need a high dex to use TWF which will be difficult if you want to use a Falcata which is a non-finesse weapon.

Paladin isn't that great for TWF as it's very feat-intensive and you will want to keep CHA up as well as STR. If you are going to sword and board twf, ranger with shield style will be better than paladin in most cases.

[Dekalinder]

some pointers. for this to work you must make sure your DM in not skimping on magic gear since you are going to need a lot of stat booster. In particular if you star with dex 15 you need a +2 dex in time for the 7 and a +4 in time for the 11th level. Remember that you have to use a light shield or the penalty on your falcata will be enormous.

[Magpied]

It is looking like the dm is gonna be VERY stingey with magic items. Almost to the point of not relying on any of them.

Pointbuy will be 25. Is it better off to go 2h? I am sort of in a rough place considering the party needs a good tank, and I'm finding that I don't want to waste the falcata proficiency.

[Imbicatus]

You can go Falcata and Buckler and choose the Rondelero Duelist feat. You can then go THF when needed and still have a decent shield bonus when you need to turtle up.

[Avenger]

Personally, I wouldn't touch TWF on a point buy considering how feat intensive this build is. You need some pretty good 4d6 rolled stats to get it going. Plus, it would be a bit harder to heal yourself with LoH.
Power Attack + Furious Focus with a 2-hander is more of a cookie-cutter.

[Magpied]

Makes sense. My point buy is 25.

Would it make sense to learn the step up tree? Or is that too feat intensive?
I like the idea of power attack, cleave, greater cleave, furious focus, but it feels a tad bland.

[Avenger]

If you're the tank, don't go Cleaving imo. Fey Foundling + Extra Lay on Hands

[Ranax]

2 level dip into ranger for TWF is better than 15 dex worth of point buy, if you really want to go that route. Get high Str, Cha and Con which you need for any pally build anyway.

Eventually get Mithral full plate to wear heavy armor while TWFing.

ITWF isn't really worth it anyway and getting TWF unlocks a lot of the shield feats later on.

It's not optimal, but it can be fun for sure. Adding smite damage to multiple attacks is nice.

Consider using a heavy shield with a kukri or a light shield with your falcata as alternatives to minimize TWF penalties. You want high threat range if you plan on taking bashing finish.

[Athaleon]

Don't bother with Cleave, it only works as its own Standard Action in PF. Fighters take it at level 1 and retrain it for free at level 4 via class feature. Your retaining will be expensive and time consuming, if your DM is using those rules at all.

I love using this setup on a Paladin:

EDIT: Forgot you were using that custom race.

Racial: Power Attack
L1: Fey Foundling
L3: Intimidating Prowess
L5: Weapon Focus
L7: Cornugon Smash
L9: Dazzling Display
L11: Shatter Defenses

The rest of the feats are optional. Oath of Vengeance Paladins may want to load up on Extra Lay On Hands. Fearless Aura if you have low-Will melee teammates. Divine Interference as soon as you can get it (expend first level spells to make enemies reroll their critical threats). If your party members die a lot, and the DM is being stingy with gold, consider taking Ultimate Mercy.

Take Omen as one of your Traits to get Intimidate as a class skill.

Then get yourself a Cruel weapon, refluffed to taste. Now, you're making an Intimidate check on every Power Attack hit (in other words, every hit). If they're Shaken by it, they are also flat-footed to your attacks. If you hit them again while they're Shaken, your weapon will make them Sickened on top of it. That's a potent debuff on top of potent damage and Paladin utility and toughness.

Great flavor too.

[rorek55]

you get power attack free,
Two handed paladin.
25 pt buy stats
Str:20(18+2)
Dex:12
Con:14 (12+2)
Int:12
Wis:7
Cha:16

1- power attack (free), fey foundling (this is an amazing feat)
3- Cleave
5- greater mercy( more tanky)
7- w/e
9-w/e
11- Crit focus.
crit feats~

[Kazaan]

Three points if you're going to go ahead and do his.

1) Don't bother with GTWF. A feat slot for one more attack at BAB-10 just isn't worth it. Limit it to ITWF. That means you only need 17 Dex, not 19.

2) If your hands are occupied with weapons, you'll have problems with tasks that involve having free hands such as casting spells and such. Two ways around this: 1) Use an off-hand weapon that doesn't occupy your hand, such as Unarmed Strike, a Light Shield or Buckler, a Cestus, Boot Blade or other non-hand-associated weapon, etc. 2) Use a double weapon since you can hold it in one hand while using your other hand for stuff.

3) Nothing states you can't make your main-hand attacks with, say, a Heavy Shield and then your off-hand attacks with a light weapon (ie. Unarmed Strike, a Kukri, etc). You're still using a light weapon as your off-hand so you only take -2/-2 penalties while maintaining the benefit of a heavy shield.

On the subject of Heavy Shields, remember that they are one-handed weapons which can be wielded with two hands for added power attack bonus and strength to damage. If you use, say, Unarmed Strikes, since they include the potential for non-hand-associated attacks, wearing the shield won't interfere with Two-Weapon Fighting with Unarmed Strikes and you have a handy one-handed weapon that can be wielded in two hands if you need to Charge or otherwise make a non-Full-Attack (or if you're having trouble hitting and would rather land a few solid hits than miss several times). Moreover, if you dip even 1 level of Monk, then your off-hand Unarmed Strikes count as if they were main-hand and, thus, get full Power Attack bonus and Str to damage, rather than just half. If you do this, it'd be a good idea to take an archetype that drops Flurry since you can't Flurry while wearing a shield. Maybe MoMS for a couple of free style feats or Maneuver Master which drops the normal restrictions on Flurry.

[XMorsX]

Fey Foundling is a must, start with this at first lvl.

I also suggest avoiding TWF, I would suggest to take Quickdraw and a quickdraw shield instead. Sheath your shield as a free action, use the falcata two handed on your turn, then free action draw your shield at the end of your turn. It is considered a bit cheesy, but it is perfectly legal. And it is not game breaking in any way.

If you insist on TWF, I would dip two lvls (after your first two paladin lvls) in rondolero duelist fighter. This will let you TWF with a buckler, so that you can hold falcata two-handed when you can only do a standard action attack. And of course two bonus feats to take your TWF feats faster. So the setup would be:

1 Paladin Fey Foundling, Power Attack
2 Paladin
3 Fighter TWF, Improved Shield Bash
4 Fighter Greater Mercy
5 Paladin Extra Lay on Hands

Definately be an oath of vengence paladin, unless you intend to multiclass with Holy Vindicator. Which is a great choice by itself, as this way you can take better advantage of the x3 critical modifier of your falcata. In this case, Hospitaler would have a good synergy with the HV abilities, but I find unacceptable to have less than two smites per day, so I would recommend either an archetypeless paladin or one with the Oath against Undead for the free ghost touch armor property, which can be a lifesaver. Such a setup would go like this:

1 Paladin Fey Foundling, Power Attack
2 Paladin
3 Paladin Quickdraw
4 Paladin
5 Paladin Alignment Channel (Evil)
6 Holy Vindicator

[TheSideKick]

power attack and falcata for free? sheesh your gm must love you.

but if you wanted to play a twf character with that stat setup and powerattack for free, i would drop EWP for a double weapon.

then you can take full advantage of your races perks.

[Covent]

If you are looking for a good TWF or flexible weapon user Paladin-esque character class please feel free to play-test and critique The Cat or Steel Kami from the champion of the Kami, which is for now while in Beta, located Here for free.

I would love feedback.

Hope this helps.

[nate lange]

i played a 2WF pally up to like 13th (i think, it was years ago). he was Cha>Dex>Str>everything else... he was originally the party healer, with high dex and a light shield to up AC but not interfere with LoH. this was before APG even came out so a lot of the staple feats weren't out yet (no fey foundling or greater mercy or anything) so i took weapon finesse, 2wf and shield bash just to have something to do when i wasn't healing. even with that simple of a build he was fairly effective... against chumps he used careful positioning to absorb some attacks that might have otherwise targeted squishies, added a little bit of damage, and used LoH/channel to triage injuries as necessary; against BBEGs he became the object of buffing and a serious ass-kicking machine- with smite evil (and his high Cha) his attacks went from fair to great and with the enemy forced to focus on fighting him he really got to take advantage of the action economy of swift LoHs. at 7th level he basically soloed a CR 9 juvenile green dragon (though, in fairness, he received a handful of buffs for that fight: stoneskin, haste, heroism, bull's strength, and fox's cunning, i think... maybe a potion of barkskin too...)